History Commons^™

A Glittering Dream : Celebration, Spectacle, Power, And Identity In American Cities, 1886-1924, Wyatt Erchak

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In July 1886, the city of Albany, New York celebrated the Bicentennial of the granting of its city charter, an event that synthesized and innovated existing forms of spectacle and celebration. Parades of municipal, fraternal, commercial, and military organizations joined orations and elaborate pyrotechnics to mark the occasion. Its central feature—a grand “historical pageant”—was one of the first times a city told the sequential story of its creation using dramatic and mechanical techniques, with expert assistance from Mardi Gras and Carnival float designers.